This invention relates to an electrode arrangement for electrochemical cells.
A very important component of an electrochemical cell is the electrode arrangement contained in it. Since the electrochemical reactions take place at an electrode surface, a major design consideration is to obtain a high electrode area in as small a cell volume as is practicable.
Conventional cell designs have flat electrodes, made of whole sheets or plates, which are either taken in pairs (anode and cathode) or in multiples as in the filter-press design. A disadvantage of this conventional electrode design is the relatively low electrode area per unit cell volume. This limitation has been succesfully overcome with porous or particulate electrode (British Chemical Engineering, Vol. 16, No. 2/3, Feb./Mar., 1971, pp. 154-156, p. 159), but other difficulties have been introduced. These include the difficulty to maintain a non-uniform potential and current density distribution within the electrode system itself.